• TIMELINE: Remembering Yitzhak Shamir

    July 1, 2012

    Yitzhak Shamir, the seventh Prime Minister of Israel, passed away June 30, 2012 at the age of 96. Below is a brief biographical timeline featuring relevant articles from JTA Jewish Daily Bulletin reports, pieced together from items mentioned in various obituaries: Oct. 22, 1915: Born Icchak Jaziernicki in Ruzinov, Poland. (alternate sp. Yezternitsky) 1935: Yezternitsky… More ▸

  • With Goldie Hawn as the mom, why don’t they just call the film ‘Sitting Shiva’?

    June 1, 2012

    I have seen at least two stories touting the possibility that Goldie Hawn will join the cast of a proposed film that is set during a family shiva. [[READMORE]] Film and culture blog Cinema Blend reports that Hawn may also be joined by Jason Bateman,” High School Musical” star Zac Efron, and Leslie Mann to… More ▸

  • Henry Denker, prolific playwright, novelist, screenwriter, dies at 99

    May 23, 2012

    Henry Denker, a lawyer turned novelist, playwright, and screenwriter, whose work ranged from Christian-themed biblical epics to medical novels, died May 15 at 99. [[READMORE]] Denker was a prolific writer who approached his craft in a businesslike fashion: ““Writing is a business and should be practiced as such,” he was quoted as saying by The… More ▸

  • Amos Vogel, influential film scholar, dies at 91

    May 17, 2012

    Amos Vogel, who pioneered an appreciation for avant-garde and experimental film and who co-founded the influential New York Film Festival, died April 24 at 91. [[READMORE]] Philadelphia film writer Sam Adams said Vogel helped “give birth” to understanding that films could consciously set out to become art. “He didn’t just screen films,” Adams said. “He… More ▸

  • Notes on Maurice Sendak, Vidal Sassoon, death in the age of social media, and more

    May 14, 2012

    What follows is a collections of links to articles and essays about celebrity deaths the Eulogizer missed recently (and for which I am full of regret) and the self-referential media echo-chamber that drives the cult of personality from which we all feed (for better or for worse): [[READMORE]] Vidal: A Jewish Soldier of the Hair… More ▸

  • Jenny Bluestein, St. Louis celebrity hair stylist, nurse, dies at 60

    May 14, 2012

    Jenny Bluestein, a onetime nurse who became a prominent hair stylist and TV personality in St. Louis and who then opened her cancer battle to the public, died April 27 at 60 of a pulmonary embolism. [[READMORE]] “Our viewers loved her,” said Jennifer Blome, KSDK-TV news anchorwoman. “She took great pleasure in helping people be… More ▸

  • Mark Deitch, former Soviet dissident, dies in accident at 67

    May 14, 2012

    Mark Deitch, 67, a former dissident who became a well-known journalist in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union, died in Bali, Indonesia, in early May while saving a young girl from drowning. Accounts didn’t give the exact date. [[READMORE]] Deitch was a prominent anti-Soviet journalist before the fall of communism and worked for… More ▸

  • Maurice Sendak, children’s author, dies at 83

    May 8, 2012

    Author and artist Maurice Sendak, writer of some of the darkest yet most beloved children’s books of the 20th century, died May 8 at 83. [[READMORE]] Sendak’s classics included 1963′s, "Where the Wild Things Are," whose yellow-toothed, grasping monsters were based on his relatives, "In the Night Kitchen," “Alligators All Around,” “Chicken Soup With Rice,”… More ▸